Battle of Wallendar

The Battle of Wallendar occurred on 24 March 1945 when the US 2nd Ranger Battalion forded the Rhine River at Wallendar, Germany and cleared the pockets of Wehrmacht resistance in the town. The US Army Rangers crossed the river in LVT armored vehicles, and the rangers came under heavy fire from German Flak 88 artillery pieces and machine guns as they headed across the mined river. Because of German lines being laid on the riverbank, the Rangers were forced to proceed into town on foot, and they cleared the town of German troops in house-by-house and street-by-street fighting. The Rangers also destroyed several German panzers and secured the battered town, and the Allies were able to invade Germany through the Wallendar bridgehead.